They would ask me what actors I saw in the roles. I would tell them, and they’d say “Oh that’s interesting.” And that would be the end of it.
--Elmore Leonard, in 2000, on the extent of his input for Hollywood's adaptation of his novels

Thursday, June 2, 2011

David Gullette's "Dreaming Nicaragua"

David Gullette is an English professor at Simmons College and the author of two books about revolutionary poetry in Nicaragua.

Here he shares some suggestions for casting an adaptation of his new novel, Dreaming Nicaragua:

The year is 2000: Jesse Pelletier is a Vietnam Vet who runs a small hotel in a little port on the Pacific Coast of Nicaragua. He’s 56. It’s been 10 years since he divorced his wife and got on his daughter’s shit-list. But the daughter, Suzy, has decided to come to Nicaragua to visit the old man and see if they can reconcile. Jesse’s love interest is a half-Nicaraguan California woman, Caitlin Cuadra, who has her own sailboat: she’s skinny, tough and gorgeous in a post-chemo sort of way (she’s been battling the Big C.) Jesse’s old Vietnam buddy Tapper also turns up—he says he’s been exporting Nica shrimp to LA (turns out he also trained Contras in Honduras in the 8os): he’s semi-drugged-up, foul-mouthed, and clearly into more stuff than just shrimp.

Jesse should be played by a solid 50-ish actor who knows how to suggest a subfloor of panic and bad dreams beneath a surface of calm and competence: Kevin Spacey. (I would have said Sam Shepard, but he’s too old.)

Suzy is a plummy role for a stubborn, snarky 20-something: Jennifer Lawrence is just old enough for this part.

Caitlin has to look like a woman returning from near-death: the face gaunt, savaged, intensely sexy: Patti Smith has the authenticity to ace the role. That she’s not an “actress” is perfect.

“Compared to a novel, a film is like an economy pizza where there are no olives, no ham, no anchovies, no mushrooms, and all you’ve got is the dough.”
--Louis de Bernières, author of Captain Corelli’s Mandolin